Victoria Harbour / North Wharf.

Victoria Dock was a large excavated harbour located on Footscray Road and Docklands Highway and was built between 1887 and 1892. Apparently, it was the oldest and largest surviving single dock in the world.

Today the structure is at odds with what is happening around it. It’s the way we ship things today that made Victoria Dock redundant. In the 1980’s the dock handled 20 million tonnes of goods – but with the introduction of containers and roll-on roll-off technology it was abandoned for commercial shipping. Subsequently, the area has been redeveloped into a vibrant new living and commercial hub.

Industrial Demolition is expert in wharf dismantling work and over water demolition work. It is an exacting process requiring work groups on the ground and on the water. The company has its own specially designed equipment for such projects which, in recent years, have included the demolition of the Barwon Heads Bridge and other projects around Melbourne Ports.

There are numerous constraints with projects like these. Many of the remaining structures are severely degraded with little or no structural integrity remaining. Detailed inspections are required to determine and establish the capacity of existing sections and to identify areas that have deteriorated beyond the capacity to support even their own weight.

Industrial has several items of plant specifically developed for this type of work including a new Hitachi long-reach excavator fitted with a 360° rotating hydraulic grapple. This unit can work from either the land side or from barges and reach the extremities of the structures safely – progressively removing the concrete and timber decks and then the stringers and cross heads that form the supporting structure above the piles.